merkel's comments came after president barack obama spoke to leaders of france, italy, and the united kingdom to support a new wave of sanctions against moscow. inwill hear more about that our next segment of "the washington journal" this morning." another story out of "the washington post" this morning. the company faces probes over .ortgage security it negotiates a multibillion-dollar settlement a deal may suppress the $13 billion that jpmorgan chase pay to the government last year. the justice department made an initial offer of $20 billion, resulting in several investigations. the bank rejected that offer and has yet to counter those people that are not allowed to speak publicly. if you want to read more about hingtonpost.com. rick is in erwin, tennessee. thank you for calling. caller: i was listening and the comparison between san francisco and houston came up. disingenuousty comparison. houston is out in the middle of the desert. san francisco has nowhere else to go but up. they have to start tearing down some old victorians. whether this person was evidently just wanted to comp